Razorblade Romance
Razorblade Romance is the second full length album by HIM released on December 19th, 1999 in Finland and the rest of Europe on January 24th, 2000 both through BMG. Distribution came later for the U.K. on May 15th, 2000 and a finalized U.S. release on October 28th, 2003 through Universal Records licensed by Jimmy Franks Recording Company. This is the album that burst HIM into international super stardom. Join Me in Death was featured in the movie The Thirteenth Floor and the soundtrack of the same title. Recording History The original working title for the album was Slippery When Dead a play on the record title of Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi. The recording sessions for what came to be the album started around mid-1998. The band had wanted to record in a residential studio and the first that came to mind was Rockfield Studios in Wales, England, but they were permanent in their choice after learning the history behind who else recorded in the place as well. "We had made up our minds that we wanted to record in a residential studio and the first place that sprung to mind was Rockfield Studios in Wales. We had the chance to check it out and when we saw the list of artists who had used the studio we were amazed. Not only that but Black Sabbath had been rehearsing there for their come back tour at the time so to sing in the same vocal booth as Ozzy was something very spiritually uplifting." - Ville Valo One early song known from the many sessions is called "Too Happy to Be Alive." The song features a drum machine in place of a live drummer due to Pätkä's departure. The lyrics and the sound of the song itself seem in-between the transition of Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 and Razorblade Romance leaning more towards the first. Lyrics from this particular recording were eventually re-heard in the lyrics of "Death is in Love With Us", which was originally titled "666 Medley" and also "666 Revisited." "I Love You", had been originally brought up to be included on this album after being scrapped on the one prior. "Join Me in Death" which existed early on from January 1998 and "Razorblade Kiss" were originally written during the same time period and featured a great contrast to the eventually released products. "Razorblade Kiss" - originally titled as the same name as the album - kept the same verses with slight lyrical changes, but the chorus was different. "Join Me in Death" had a few of the same verses that later were on the final mixes but one take at the time had a verse after the guitar solo that did not make the final cut of the song. "I Love You" contains the same lyrics that made the final cut. Oddly enough a lot of the parts on this album were recorded naked. "Our bass player Migé is obsessed with the naked form and it spread through out the band. Many of us chose to record our parts naked. Our keyboard player Zoltan was a little shy at first, but we managed to persuade him into joining us and he ended up recording most of his piano parts like that. Like I say, we spent a lot of time naked in the field outside because we had beautiful sunshine for about 17 out of the 20 days wer were at the studio." - Ville Valo Upon learning about the new distribution in 2000 of the record to the United Kingdom the band decided to re-recorded three old songs for strictly for the release. The tracks selected were "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)", "Wicked Game" and "Your Sweet 666" - now shortened to digits instead of being written out long form. The first one never made the cut, but was eventually on the U.K. edition of And Love Said No ...: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004. Touring In Synnin Viemää Ville described some scenes that played through out the band's tired run on this tour: "To tell the truth I was completely tired. In Hamburg I almost fell down from the stage. After the gig I lied in my hotel room like a completely dead mess, - Ville says. That time we all were ill from each other, but we had to play the gigs. Migé was really ill for a month. I didn't realize myself how close to the end I was, - Ville confesses. - It was Dresden or Chemnitz where a really high hotel was, and we were on the 13th floor. I got completely insane and was about to jump out of the balcony. Linde and Silke ripped me to safety. The hotel's staff came to annoy me and I was close to hitting the hotel's boss." Track Listings Finnish Releases 12" Vinyl Side A # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 Side B # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 Limited Edition Digipak # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 # "Sigillum Diaboli" - 3:54 # "The 9th Circle (OLT)" - 5:11 Regular Edition # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 International Releases British Edition # "Your Sweet 666" - 3:56 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Wicked Game" - 4:04 # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 Limited Tour Edition CD 1 # "Your Sweet 666" - 3:56 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Wicked Game" - 4:04 # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 CD 2 # "Right Here in My Arms" (Live) - 5:39 # "Your Sweet 666" (Live) - 4:15 # "Poison Girl" (Live) - 3:45 # "Death is in Love With Us" (Live) - 3:01 # "Wicked Game" (Live) - 6:24 # "Join Me in Death" (Live) - 6:25 Regular Edition # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 U.S. Releases 12" Vinyl Side A # "Your Sweet 666" - 3:56 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Wicked Game" - 4:04 Side B # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 HER # "Your Sweet 666" - 3:56 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Wicked Game" - 4:04 # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Sigillum Diaboli" - 3:54 # "The 9th Circle (OLT)" - 5:11 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 HIM # "Your Sweet 666" - 3:56 # "Poison Girl" - 3:51 # "Join Me in Death" - 3:37 # "Right Here in My Arms" - 4:00 # "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart" - 4:15 # "Wicked Game" - 4:04 # "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" - 3:10 # "Gone With the Sin" - 4:22 # "Razorblade Kiss" - 4:18 # "Resurrection" - 3:39 # "Death is in Love With Us" - 2:58 # "Heaven Tonight" - 3:18 # "Sigillum Diaboli" - 3:54 # "One Last Time" - 5:09 Album Credits * Produced, mixed and engineered by: John Fryer at Rockfield, Strongroom and Finnvox. * Mastered by: George Marino at Sterling Sound. * Spiritual assistance by: Michael Eros. * Sleeve design by: Lucifer. * Fatalistic guidance by: Haemo Phyle. * Photography by: Jouko Lehtola. * Lead guitar on "Razorblade Kiss" by Daniel Lioneye. * Make-up by: Tanja Savolainen. * Tambourine on "One Last Time" by Mike Ceer. * Composed & written by: Valo. * Arranged by: HIM. * All songs published by: Heartagram. * A & R by: Asko Kallonen and Per Kviman. * Cry baby wah on "Heaven Tonight" by: Zebraman. * HIM exclusively abuses Faust, Shure, Aarne Lempimaki, Aikuiseten Leiukauppa, Paiste, Pasi Hara, Mutti, Gibson, Eppu and the Blue Dragon, SFP, Ilé Olé, Fender, Laney, Enrico, Tommi Manninen, I. Alamäki, Daniel Lioneye and the Blues Explosion, Martin Körfer, TT, Joffa Bond and His Angels, Mapex, Zompf, Ampeg, Kathrin and Jörg, Studio 66, Hiili, The Luxury Collection/Hotel Kämp, Janne Vuori, Juhani Nuuskamäki, Nide, Räpis, Teppo Mäki, Udo, Ben Granfelt, Aki and Kabuki, Ingo, Juhani Merimaa, Suho, Ilkka Kuusimäki. Notes Finnish Releases 12" Vinyl * The Finnish release is limited to 1,200 copies on pink wax. Limited Edition Digipak * There are two versions of this release one that has copy-protection and the other that does not. * "Sigillium Diaboli" is a re-recording of "Stigmata Diaboli" as "The 9th Circle (OLT)" is of "One Last Time." * Some copies of this album contains a Heartagram tattoo. * The credits of this booklet mention: * Live-Bonustracks 12 and 13 produced by: Hiili at Finnvox. International Releases British Edition * The back of the cd tray shortens "I Love You" - no reason was given. Limited Tour Edition * This album contains a second disc of live songs. They're taken from an incomplete soundboard recording at the Werchter Rock Festival in Werchter, Belgium on July 1st, 2000. U.S. CD Releases 12" Vinyl * The U.S. Hot Topic exclusive release came on pink wax in a gelatin case. HER * This version of the album was limited to 1,000 copies and only sold at Newbury Comics stores in the New England area mainly marketing to the consumers in Massachusetts. * This version contains every studio track released on various copies of Razorblade Romance on one disc. * The assigned number to this item is 41PLUS66POINT6. * In the credits section in the middle of the booklet instead of reading "HIM abuses" it says "HER abuses". HIM * There were two versions of this release with minor art work differences. The first release had a parental advisory label on it due to the title Join Me in Death and the current release which is stripped of the label. External Links * Razorblade Romance releases at HIM CD DATABASE Category: HIM albums